Field of the Invention
This invention involves a knee protection device which holds back the pelvis of occupants in the passenger space of a motor vehicle. The device extends transversely on both sides of the lengthwise plan of the vehicle and at a specific distance away from it.
This invention involves in particular a linkage structure for such knee protection devices when they are separated by components of the chassis of the vehicle, as in the case of a steering shaft or a dash board.
The protective device of the invention is connected or linked to stakes or panels on opposite sides of the body, on both sides of the device, and conveys the lengthwise stress which is applied to it to the stakes and to the separation panel between the forward structure of the vehicle and the passenger space.
More specifically, the lateral bases of the protective device are attached to support feet or brackets linked to one another across the space between opposite sides of the passenger compartment and respectively supported on the separation panel between the forward structure of the vehicle and the passenger space. The sections of the protective device on opposite sides of the passenger compartment are linked to one another by a crossbar positioned between the two modular spaces.
Thus implemented, the device guarantees the correct hold back of the vehicle occupants' knees, when the arrangement of the median section of the passenger space forbids the use of a protective device which would extend without interruption between two lateral panels in this passenger space.